


Once Upon A Dream

by Selkie_de_Suzie



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Bittersweet, Childhood, Dreams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-11
Updated: 2016-10-11
Packaged: 2018-08-21 21:41:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8261306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selkie_de_Suzie/pseuds/Selkie_de_Suzie
Summary: Dreams mean nothing. That's what she tells herself.





	

Emma has been done with dreams for a while now.

It’s simply a matter of survival, of moving forward. Even as a little girl, waiting and watching and being time after time the only one remaining, she had learned to forsake the immaterial in favor of facts, to leave behind the  _could-have’s, would-have’s,_ and _should-have’s_  for the cold simplicity of the  _have’s, need to’s_ and _can’t ever’s._

Each dream she gave up, each sweet thing to lull herself to sleep when she was so achingly lonely and tears would silently drop onto her pillow-

_-a sweet smile full of love aimed at her, a gentle finger trailing against baby soft cheeks, any gesture, and sign of affection that they had loved her, that it was all a mistake, she was wanted, she was wanted, she **had**  been wanted_ -

-was another stone added to her wall, another link to her armor

(though she’s no knight, that’s for sure, the time for that sort of thing has long gone)

She makes a conscious effort to banish away any lingering hopes while she wakes and wanders and searches for anything to fill up her life. 

It’s when she lets go and falls under a sleep, a sleep so deep it’s near deathlike, that she dreams…

_Tears trail down cheeks fair as snow as she is kissed goodbye; her little body snug and safe against his even as swords flash around her; a rolling cackle that strikes through her mind like lightening; a world destroyed as she is born anew…_

Dreams mean nothing. That’s what she tells herself.

That’s what she has to tell herself. 

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little drabble I did ages ago that I've always been rather fond of. It's been tucked away on my tumblr, and I always meant to post it here.


End file.
